ICE TRADE: The Rangers finally landed Rick Nash (above) from the Blue Jackets, but gave up just Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov and Tim Erixon,along with a first-round pick in next year’s Entry Draft, and also received Steven Delisle and a conditional 2013 third-round pick. Photo: Paul J. Bereswill

ICE TRADE: The Rangers finally landed Rick Nash (above) from the Blue Jackets, but gave up just (top from left to right) Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov and Tim Erixon,along with a first-round pick in next year’s Entry Draft, and also received Steven Delisle and a conditional 2013 third-round pick. (
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Finally, after months of negotiating and renegotiating, the one team that seemed destined to get him all along can call Rick Nash its own.

Yesterday, the Rangers traded for the five-time All-Star forward, sending back to Columbus forwards Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, defensive prospect Tim Erixon, and a first-round pick in the 2013 draft. In addition to Nash, the Rangers also got defensive prospect Steven Delisle and a conditional third-round pick in next year’s draft.

“This quality of a hockey player doesn’t come along very often,” Rangers general manger Glen Sather said. “This is a very important deal to our hockey club.”

Throughout negotiations, it was reported Columbus GM Scott Howson was demanding some combination of the Rangers’ young corps, including Derek Stepan, Ryan McDonagh and Chris Kreider. After Sather made all of them unavailable, Howson publicly scoffed that the price for such a good player should be high, and it all resulted in talks going cold.

Until Friday, that is, when Sather sent this most recent offer to Howson. They spent the weekend thinking it over, and when they reconvened yesterday, all that had to be ironed out were the spare parts heading to the Rangers.

“I’m sure it was very difficult for Scott to make the decision to trade him, as it was for us to make the trade with the players we did,” Sather said. “I think it was a fair trade for both sides.”

Although seemingly bringing down his demands, Howson, as all GMs in his situation will say, thinks he got a good deal.

“I’m very pleased with the process,” Howson said. “The market played itself out. We weren’t going to do this deal until we got fair value for a player of Rick’s caliber.”

Nash, 28, has been the No. 1 target for Sather since the February trade deadline, when the Rangers did everything they could to obtain the two-time 40-goal scorer. The deal fell through, and the Rangers, playing their relentless low-scoring and high-energy style, lost to the Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals, seemingly running out of gas (and goals) after finishing with the second-best regular-season record in the NHL.

“I think they are already one of the top teams in the league,” Nash said. “The players that they have there is pretty impressive, from the goaltender and the defense and right up. I’m looking forward to being part of the organization and the whole city.”

Nash will carry a $7.8 million annual cap charge through 2017-18, but Sather called the money in the deal “a wash.” Anisimov had one more year left and would be looking for a raise from the $1.875 million he’s set to make this year; Dubinsky had three more years left at $4.2 million per; and Erixon was a highly-paid prospect, getting $1.75 million annually for the next two seasons.

Howson was excited about all three players, saying he thought any one of them could be the cornerstone to this trade.

“We wanted two forwards that could help our team right away and they could do that,” Howson said. “It’s about winning right now, for sure. This is not a trade that we think we’re going to be five years from now.”

Sather also noted Nash can help to fill the void left by Marian Gaborik, who will be out until November after shoulder surgery.